After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of high-value Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) were given a longer window till June 30 to get them exchanged.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of high-value Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) were given a longer window till June 30 to get them exchanged, while the citizens inside India were given a time limit of of 50 days till December 30, 2016. (Reuters)

In a startling revelation, customs department has unearthed a new modus operandi of sending demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes abroad with an aim of getting then lagalised in India later on. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of high-value Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) were given a longer window till June 30 to get them exchanged, while the citizens inside India were given a time limit of of 50 days till December 30, 2016. The custom department of India has registered cases where demonetised banknotes were sent abroad by courier. The Custom officials have reportedly seized over Rs 1 lakh in such notes, PTI reported. “The aim could be to take help of their relatives or friends abroad to get the old notes exchanged with the new ones,” an official was quoted as saying by PTI. Customs officials informed about two such cases where couriers were booked from Punjab for Australia and the content inside them were declared as book. However, later the officials found demonetised currency inside the boxes. Similar orders for couriers were also made for Korea and the United Arab Emirates containing the defunct notes. “In all, over Rs 1 lakh in old currency notes were seized from these couriers,” he said. Certain other cases have also been registered across country. After demonetising high-value currency, the government had permitted people to deposit them in banks up to December 30, 2016.
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The RBI has allowed Indian citizens, who were abroad during November-December 2016, to exchange the scrapped notes up to March 31 and NRIs up to June 30. This facility is available at RBI offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Nagpur only. NRIs coming to India are required to come through Red Channel disclosing to the Customs authorities at the airport the amount of the demonetised notes and secure a certificate to be tendered at the RBI at the time of exchange.